StLouisCruisers

Not that I knew of or we would have gone there to check it out. We used to go to Explorer's Lounge near the dining rooms to listen to the Classical Duo as they were called. Two Ukrainian young women who played piano and violin. DH walked by the Lounge one time and they were sitting there talking to each other, not playing, and no one seated in the audience. This was during a publicized "set". He struck up a conversation with them and told them we'd be back during their next "set". We showed up and sat down in the front row and they began to play. They were very good and we enjoyed listening to the classical music. DH told them if you play, they will come! Almost every night after that we came to enjoy the music and every night more and more people came to listen. I think their original problem was they didn't play if no one was in the room. The Explorer's Lounge is open to the corridor leading from the dining room to the bars, casino, World Stage, etc. They just needed to give the people what they want and that is entertainment.

Thank you very much Graham! I remember waiting at the hospital the morning he was born and getting to hold him right after. Wow, those years went by fast! Thanks so much Melanie! Quite a weekend at their house.🎂 I loved hearing about helping your friend who is struggling. Today is also Good Deeds Day and you are a perfect example of that! I would add Gerry @ger_77 and her DH to that group as well. So many good deeds we hear about on the Daily.😇 What a combination! I can safely say I would not like the taste of that concoction! But thank you Dixie! That sounds like a wonderful way to spend a day! Good luck with your exercise and nutrition program. Always a laudable effort. I'm glad today's port of the day was of help to you. Stick around and you'll find all kinds of places to add to your bucket list. I thought of you when I wrote about bean counters this morning @Mr. Boston. Hope you're enjoying your stay in Maine. Sounds very interesting and scenic. Seems like there's never a sunny day in Whittier! Surely once in a while the sun must shine. Thank you for the birthday wishes. I'm betting Kai will be touched to know my friends sent such lovely thoughts. I like the fact you try out so many of Debbie's recipes. The family must be in awe of your cooking abilities! Lol! Nancy, thanks for the birthday wishes for Kai, a fellow Michigander. What a topsy-turvy spring you're having! And good luck with the diets.🍽️ Thanks Charlene for Kai's BD wishes. It must be exciting having an air show right over your hometown. Don't get a crook in your neck looking upwards. We just had look at the sky day on Friday!

Good morning friends! Here where I live it is 63 degrees, cloudy with a high of 75 expected. We have a chance of a thunderstorm here and there during the day. In the news at my house, the eldest DGS in Michigan turns 18 today so Happy Birthday Kai! The family is all together in "A squared" as we call their hometown, because there was only one soccer game for Ren this weekend. And what a game! Congrats to Ren and the Michigan Jaguars who won 10 to 0 yesterday! Ren scored 2 goals and had 2 assists and sat out the last 30 minutes of the game with that kind of lead. No need to tempt fate and get injured! ⚽ Thank you Rich @richwmn for our Fleet Report and Daily. This Sunday morning we have Save the Elephant Day, Mushroom Day, and National Bean Counter Day. A salute to the elephant population and let's hope they are being well protected wherever they live.🐘 I like most mushrooms, and have nothing against a bean counter as long as they are realistic and not ruthless. No offense to any bean counters out there! The dish of the day is roasted vegetable baked falafel sandwiches. That's a mouthful! 😁 The drink is It's Bitter to Be Hoppy 🍹 and the wine is a pinot noir from New Zealand I believe. 🍷 Quite a variety so thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for all the explanations today. See if you can win me over because I will take a pass on them all right about now. 😉 Prayers for all on the Care list this morning 🙏 and cheers to the very happy Celebration list people.🥂 Hoping everyone on a cruise is enjoying their day and slept well. 🚢 Many thanks to Vanessa @JazzyV for stepping in for Roy. The port today is Whittier, Alaska. This is a port you see in many Alaska cruises at one end or the other. This was our port on September 9, 2021 and July 16, 2022 and I will post the links for you. Please post your photos if you have some. Mine are below also. We went to Whittier twice. In 2009 we did B2B 7 day Alaska cruises roundtrip Vancouver so had turnaround day there. Then in 2010 we ended up there after an Asian cruise that began in Bangkok (Laem Chabang). So we just got on a bus and headed to the Anchorage airport to fly home. There isn't much to see in Whittier as you can see. I checked and the population of Whittier is about 205 people (2020). The entire town lives in one high rise building. They have a grocery store and other services in the building itself so they don't even need to step outside most of the time. I would assume the majority of the people work at the harbor with ships coming in or boat charters or fishing. This is what the town looks like in May with the snow still on the mountains. Like I said before on the 2010 trip we were heading to the airport so this is about all we saw. I'm not sure what this building is but it looks like it would work great as a restaurant and hotel. I wonder how many people actually come here to spend the night though? This photo was taken Sept. 12, 2009 on our B2B. Notice the lack of snow. The high rise residential building Rainy weather is common here. In this photo you see the road from Anchorage and even buses coming toward the ship with new passengers ready to embark. The mists which are probably common here. A truckful of luggage coming probably from the cruise line hotel in Anchorage. If anyone has actually gotten off the ship and walked around the "town" please enlighten us as to what you have seen. I would love to know, and if I ever get back to Whittier I'll get off the ship even if it is raining. I promise! Wishing everyone a very nice Sunday. Stay safe and be kind.

Today is Save the Elephant Day, Mushroom Day, and National Bean Counter Day Life has a higher end, than to be amused. - William Ellery ChanningMeal Suggestion for today - Roasted Vegetable Baked Falafel SandwichesDrink of the Day - It's Bitter To Be HoppyWine of the Day - Valli Pinot Noir Central Otago Waitaki Vineyard 2020Destination of the Day - Whittier, Alaska Eurodam At Sea Destination Acajutla, El Salvador eta 4-17 Koningsdam At Sea Destination Nawiliwili, Lihue, Kauai Island, Hawaii eta 4-19 Nieuw Amsterdam Panama Canal Nieuw Statendam At Sea Destination Cadiz, Spain, Sevilla eta 4-18 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Praia da Vitoria, Terceira Island, Azores Portugal eta 4-17 Rotterdam Plymouth, England 08:00 - 16:00 Volendam At Sea destination Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos eta 4-17 Zaandam At Sea Destination Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida eta 4-18 Zuiderdam Dover, London, England 07:00 - 19:00Eastern Hemisphere Noordam At Sea Destination Hilo, Hawaii Island eta 4-22 Westerdam At Sea destination Busan, South Korea eta 4-18 Sandi for Rich

We did a HAL Amazon cruise last Nov.-Dec. and had all ages on the Volendam. That included home schooled children so I doubt you'll be the youngest on board. If you want to drink in a bar after midnight I doubt you'll find one open by that hour. However we enjoyed listening to the Ocean Bar Band in the evenings before and/or after dinner (7:30 pm). If you're interested in the Amazon you'll enjoy this cruise.

We all got them!

At the moment both tabs are working Gerry. At first neither did. And one tab is slightly ahead of the other one. Strange!

thanks, I'll try it.

Still nothing. I get 5 seconds of video then it freezes. Last weekend it worked fine. Having same problem on my IPhone. Stop and start. So frustrating.

After the black screen and spinning circle, I get a still shot of the ships with a spinning circle. Is anything moving now?

My video keeps going out on PTZ. Anyone else getting black screen with the spinning circle?

Their horns sound so dull, don't they?

Joy I was wondering this morning if we would hear from you today. You really have been busy helping out your friend. I hope you all enjoy your new treasures found while setting up for the sale. The jewelry sale should be popular. Do you advertise anywhere or just put signs up along the neighborhood roads?

Yes, take the rest of the day easy. I'm glad you got the outside work done. And you will be leaving Eva @superoma in good hands - that I know. Thanks for your reply.

Rich, thanks for the photos! They brought me right back there to 2018 when we walked across that bridge, and down that main street to the beach. We were there in mid September. Was it too cold for anyone to be out on the beach today? There were some hanging out on the beach in September though it wasn't hot that day.

Great photos! The goodies from Caffe Florian look so good!

I posted this on the Daily a bit ago and want to repost here to perhaps get some answers. I just looked at the cruisemapper map tab on my computer and see that the Rotterdam has changed directions and seems to be heading away from Plymouth England. Anyone on board know what's going on? A ship in distress nearby? Maybe it's nothing and they have so much time to get to port they're doing doughnuts at sea. Just curious. Anyone there know what's going on?

Welcome to the Daily and Fleet Report! Glad to see you posting.

I just looked at the cruisemapper map tab on my computer and see that the Rotterdam has changed directions and seems to be heading away from Plymouth England. Anyone on board know what's going on? A ship in distress nearby? Maybe it's nothing and they have so much time to get to port they're doing doughnuts at sea. Just curious.

Thanks for your good wishes for Ren. Strange how the knee leakage seems to move around. I hope you get a handle on it so it's not a huge nuisance on your cruise. Thanks Graham! I wish everyone could see Venice. Gerry good to hear the strep throat has improved so much. I know your Ukrainian friends will enjoy having you over for dinner tonight to show their thanks. Plus they can enjoy your nice freshly baked dinner rolls. My favorite memory of sailing out of Venice is similar to yours, hearing "A Time To Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman played on the speakers. I think that might have been on Royal Princess. Just glorious! Thank you for commenting on the Venice photos. I saw on September 20, 2022's post lots of photos posted. Besides mine I saw @Quartzsite Cruiser, @HAL Sailer, @bennybear, @Cruzin Terri, and @Sharon in AZ. Sharon, if you would like me to copy and paste your photos to post them here, just say the word and I can take care of it. Maureen, I'm sorry to hear about your cousin's DH passing away. Safe travels on your trip to NY for the wake and funeral. Strange, I was wondering about cars parked in the FLL-PEV parking garages too. That would be a terrible thing to come back to. Annie, have you mentioned the ship and dates for your cruise here yet? We will want to put you on the Celebration list. Details, please!

Bon Voyage!!

I am up too early for the Volendam arrival, and have to get to my treadmill but I see her out there heading in. Caribbean Princess is right ahead of her about to enter the channel. Celebrity Equinox is already berthed, as is Costa Deliziosa. Celebrity Apex is behind Volendam. I hope someone here will be available to take some screenshots. Maybe the "kids" have Jake @Crazy For Cats awake already. 😁 I will be back for sailaway this afternoon. Have a good day all!

Good morning friends! Today it is 56F with a high of 79 and sunshine in our forecast. Finally it is warming up.🌞 Thank you Rich for today's Daily and Fleet Report! Have a fine day off in Plymouth (and hopefully Weymouth), England. Weymouth is quite scenic. For today we have Husband Appreciation Day, Income taxes are due, and National Laundry Day. Unless I'm not home I always do laundry on Saturday so I will be "honoring" that day. Income taxes were completed a long time ago (thanks to DH). And that's just another reason I appreciate my husband! The Nin quote is a good one. If you like salmon you might want to try the salmon veggie packets. Sounds like something Debbie @dfish would enjoy and thanks in advance for your photos and recipes for it. I'll pass on the watermelon margarita but thanks anyway Dixie @summer slope. I have no idea what the wine is but Ann @cat shepard will inform me. Thanks Ann. Prayers will be said today for everyone on the Care list. We have our work cut out for us. Those suffering will appreciate our prayers I'm sure. 🙏 For those with good and happy events we send our congrats. I bet Laura and DH @TiogaCruiser are saying prayers of thanks that their last piece of luggage arrived last night. We are thankful they and Sharon @Sharon in AZ made it safely to Florida finally, and hope everyone sailing today makes it to the ships on time I will be in the midst of watching a soccer game for DGS Ren this afternoon but will definitely be watching and listening to the Volendam as it leaves Port Everglades. Hope it doesn't rain on them! Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for handling the lists again. 🥂 The port of the day is Venice, Italy. This was our port of the day on June 17, 2021 and also August 14, 2022. In addition on Sept. 20, 2022 we had Trieste (for Venice) but I won't post a link to that one until Trieste comes up again. Many of you will have photos of Venice because who doesn't love going to Venice? I'll share my photos too. The links for today are posted here: On to Venice! I love visiting Venice and have been there about 4 times. Crown Princess 2012, Royal Princess 2013, Westerdam 2017 and Pacific Princess 2018. I'm sure there will be plenty of photos of that beautiful city. This is a photo my brother said I should have made into a poster size print. Beautiful! I checked for photos from our last time in Venice, Pacific Princess transatlantic, Nov. 24, 2018. A few different shots. I notice the best pictures seem to be from the IPhone rather than the camera. I stuck my head into this open doorway into a shop. Another gondola picture but this time the color of the water and the clouds bring some interest to the subject. The bridge of sighs Remember it was November so it gets dark earlier that time of year. Pacific Princess sailing down the canal leaving Venice about dinner time. My favorite spot to buy pizza in Venice. Then the gelato place is 20 steps away after eating the pizza. it's called Antico Forno The gelato My favorite is mint chocolate chip! Hope you all have a great Saturday and tremendous weekend!

Today is Husband Appreciation Day, Income Taxes Due, and National Laundry Day People living deeply have no fear of death. - Anais NinMeal Suggestion for today - Salmon Veggie PacketsDrink of the Day - Watermelon MargaritaWine of the Day - Numanthia Termes Tinta de Toro, Toro, SpainDestination of the Day - Venice, Italy Eurodam Puntarenas, Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica 08:00 - 17:00 Koningsdam At Sea Destination Nawiliwili, Lihue, Kauai Island, Hawaii eta 4-19 Nieuw Amsterdam Cartagena, Colombia 07:00 - 13:00 Nieuw Statendam Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Azores Portugal 12:00 - 23:00 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Praia da Vitoria, Terceira Island, Azores Portugal eta 4-17 Rotterdam At Sea destination Plymouth, England eta 4-16 Volendam Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida 07:00 - 16:00 Zaandam At Sea Destination Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida eta 4-18 Zuiderdam Isle of Portland, Weymouth, Dorset England - 17:00Eastern Hemisphere Noordam Pago Pago, Tutuila Island, American Samoa 10:00 - 18:00 Westerdam Kanazawa, Japan 08:00-20:00 Sandi for Rich

@TiogaCruiser Whew! Now I can sleep tonight! Hope you have a good Uber driver and a nice calm, restful ride to the ship.